


Past Your Bedtime

by syddieleigh



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Fluff, M/M, Mild Language, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-27
Updated: 2017-11-27
Packaged: 2019-02-07 17:27:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12845988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/syddieleigh/pseuds/syddieleigh
Summary: Ryan stays up after Shane goes to bed and has to wake Shane up to protect him.





	Past Your Bedtime

“Okay, I’m off to bed.” Shane rose from the couch where he had been lazily watching trash television for the last hour or so, feeling wholly unproductive but satisfied to have time to relax. Beside him, Ryan looked quite the opposite. He sat hunched over his laptop, the harsh blue glow illuminating his face, which was scrunched up in deep concentration. He was down some conspiracy theory rabbit hole, no doubt, and Shane chuckled to himself as he moved to him and squatted down to place his hands on Ryan’s legs. Ryan jumped slightly, obviously too into his reading to have noticed that Shane had moved. He always got like that when he was working. Shane wished he wouldn’t take work home as much, but he knew Ryan loved immensely, and it was cute when he got all worked up, so it didn’t bother him too much.

“You alright, scaredy cat?” Shane teased, smiling up at Ryan, whose only response was an eyeroll. They were almost eye to eye.

“Hm? Oh yeah, I’m good. Just, you know, reading stuff for Unsolved. Man, there is so much creepy shit on the internet.” He glanced at his laptop for a second, and then back to Shane, flashing him a smile that was meant to say ‘I’m great,’ but was more of a grimace that said ‘I’m worried demons are going to take over the earth.’ He seemed to then notice the TV was off. “You going to sleep?”

“How astute,” said Shane sarcastically. “The case of Where Shane Madej Goes After Midnight is no longer… unsolved.” He mocked Ryan’s unsolved voice while the other boy scoffed disdainfully. Ryan’s foot rose to Shane’s chest, giving him enough of a kick to knock him off balance, and the two laughed.

As Shane picked himself up, Ryan returned to his laptop, furiously scribbling down notes as he read things of interest. Shane bent over to kiss the top of his head.

“Don’t sit so close.”

“Hmm?” He was gone again.

“To your laptop. It’s bad for your eyes.”

“Oh. Right. Thanks. Goodnight!” Ryan called after Shane, who was shuffling toward the bedroom. Shane heard the frantic clacking of keyboard keys as soon as he left the room. Usually when this happened, Shane going off to bed would prompt Ryan to do the same, and by the time he had finished getting ready for bed, Ryan was there, ready to join him. Tonight, Shane took his time brushing his teeth, washing his face, and even picking out his clothes for the next day. Ryan never appeared.

So Shane, refusing to let himself care, turned off the lights and got into bed, alone, and fell asleep to the occasional sound of rapid typing emitting from the living room.

His eyes snapped open again to an alarm clock that read 2:06 in hazy, red numbers. He reached for his glasses, clumsily, and as he was putting them on, noticed the lack of warmth beside him, realizing quickly that Ryan was still awake. Then he heard it again. Ryan’s voice calling to him, which must have been what woke him up.

“Shaaaaaaane.” It was a nagging groan, and as it went on, its tone elevated in both volume and panic. “Shane, I know you’re not that heavy of a sleeper. Don’t be a dick. Shaaaane.”

“I hear you,” Shane grumbled back, rubbing his eyes as he rolled out of bed and moved into the hallway, at the end of which was Ryan, still in the living room, now standing, staring off to the left. As he reached the end of the hallway, he realized Ryan’s eyes were fixed on the old mirror that hung above the fireplace, one that had been given to the boys by Ryan’s grandmother when they first moved in together.

“What the fuck is your problem?” Shane asked as playfully as one who has just been rudely awoken at two in the morning can. Ryan’s eyes never left the mirror though. Shane realized, whatever was going on, he had really freaked himself out this time.

“Mirrors are bad. They invite another person into your house. They’re really not a good idea. And with it being so close to the witching hour, I - I just didn’t feel comfortable turning my back on it alone.”

 _Isn’t the witching hour at 3am?_ thought Shane, but he didn’t feel like egging on Ryan, especially when he looked so much like a tin-hat-wearing cokehead already, with his twitchy body language and eyes all bugged out. A twinge of worry came across Shane for Ryan. This is what lack of sleep and ghost stories would do to many men (not himself), but for Ryan it was particularly bad. He would never understand why someone so gullible as Ryan would willingly freak the shit out of themselves the way he did.

“Come on, buddy. Let’s get you to bed.” Shane moved to Ryan, taking his laptop from him first and placing it down gently on the coffee table. He then softly grabbed Ryan’s arms and Ryan began to relax, allowing himself to be lead away from the living room.

“We should at least cover it up, to be safe,” Ryan was arguing, rubbing his eyes as a sign of obvious exhaustion, and Shane just kept moving him away, taking his hand and gently pulling him back to the bed. Normally, he’d love to tell Ryan he was being an idiot and there was nothing to be afraid of, because ghosts aren’t real anyway! But this time he bit his tongue. It was too late for the two of them to get heated about this right now.

“Mmkay, Ryan. We’ll just do that,” he said sweetly, shaking his head. Ryan looked genuinely terrified, but as soon as he was lying down in the bed, Shane could see the exhaustion underneath. He turned the hall light off.

“Shane, not to be a pussy here, but can you hurry up please.” As stupid as Shane thought the idea of ghosts was, he felt bad for Ryan, and he would feel like a bad boyfriend if he didn’t comfort him. So instead of making his usual snarky comment, he just crawled into bed beside him and turned out the rest of the lights, but plugging in a small nightlight they kept on Ryan’s side for the nights like this one.

In the darkness, Ryan moved into Shane’s arms. This surprised Shane, considering Ryan didn’t typically like to be touched when he was falling asleep. He pressed his face into the crook of Shane’s neck and Shane felt his heart melt just a tiny bit. He held Ryan tighter.

“Maybe you shouldn’t be looking at that spooky shit so late at night, huh?” Shane mumbled, already half asleep.

“I’m sorry for waking you up.” Ryan’s voice was muffled against Shane’s skin, “I know you think I’m dumb.” He was less tense now, but Shane could tell he was still a bit on edge. He chuckled at Ryan.

“I don’t think you’re dumb,” he whispered, sleep trickling into his voice. It would take over any minute now, but he was fighting it. He wanted to make sure Ryan was okay before he passed out. “It’s cute when you get all worked up about ghosts and demons and shit.” He could feel Ryan smile. “Besides, what’s the point of having a big, strong boyfriend if he can’t protect you from supernatural shit that doesn’t exist?”

“ _Does_ exist. And I don’t know if I would call you big and strong. Tall and awkward, maybe…”

“I would. I would call me that.”

“Oh, shut up.”

It was quiet for a minute or two.

“...Okay but we are covering that whole ass mirror, right?”

“As opposed to what, half of it?”

“Okay, you know what,” Ryan wheezed, as usual, without finishing the somewhat threatening statement.

The two laughed for a moment, and then the room was silent the next. Ryan moved even closer, pulling Shane against him. He heard the smaller boy’s breathing even out, which was a good indicator that he had finally fallen asleep. As Shane drifted off again, he thought about how much better it was to do so with Ryan beside him, and how lucky he was to have him.


End file.
